User:Heroes2024/sandbox

• Comment: You have a good start here, you'll need to work on the citations and style. If you need help please feel free to reach out to me on my talk page. Dr vulpes (Talk) 17:35, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

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JAMES THOMAS ANNIS SCOTT

War hero James Thomas Annis Scott (31 January 1895 - 11 October 1956) was one of the very first UK citizens to be awarded the George Medal.[[File:Mr Scott.jpg|thumb|James Scott] Air raid warden Mr Scott was a squad leader of the South Shields Civil Defence Rescue Service. On the night of October 2, 1941, the town centre and riverside of South Shields suffered a massive bomb attack when Luftwaffe bombers mistook a land bridge in the town for their intended target, the Tyne Bridge. A total of 68 people were killed and 117 others suffered serious injury. A cafe was destroyed and five people were trapped in a cellar when bombs were dropped on the market place. Rescuers needed to release them before coal gas filled the area. Mr Scott decided to use his body as a human pillar while other rescuers dragged trapped people to safety. He took the full weight of collapsing masonry and timbers on his shoulders, his body supported by a wooden stay which had been propped into the pit of his stomach. He stayed in this position for two hours until trapped survivors had been rescued. He was then lowered by rope head first through a small aperture into a cellar to rescue two other people. At 5 ft 6 ins tall, Mr Scott was the smallest man in the South Shields rescue service. Mr Scott's medal award was announced in the first awards for 1942. He chose to wear his foreman's civil defence uniform when he received the award on March 24 that year.

Newcastle Journal and North Mail Saturday 3 January 1942 King Street (A South Shields Story) South Shields ARP Emergency Committee